"My body is fabulous!" They’re not words you often hear out of woman’s mouth, and they’re certainly not words I used to say often. This last week has given me great perspective on just how fabulous my body is. It was driven home that shape and size doesn’t matter but rather structural integrity, strength and inner health is everything.
I was due to do a gig recently, I was excited and there were 190 fabulous people expecting to hear me speak. The day before I was to fly out, my back went ‘clunk’, or was it ‘twist’ or was it ‘snap’, it felt like all three! - a very old low back disc injury from many years ago (3 car accidents and a dance injury) just decided to slip that little bit further. The pain was excruciating and I admit I don’t do pain well (who does!)
Working in hospitals has certainly given me a deep appreciation for my health but perhaps I needed to hear the message a little louder. So often we take the preciousness of our bodies for granted and give them a bit of a hard rap because they don’t fit in to the glossy magazine image of what we ‘should’ look like at this age or what we ‘should’ be able to do with them. We don’t match up to the celebrities that we forget need a tonne of makeup and an entourage of various stylists to look that good and a good edit session with 'photoshop'. Our bodies are unique just as much as our personalities are unique and need to be respected and cared for.
This reminder was driven home as I lay there thinking that this could be more serious than I realised. I am extremely thankful that a week later after bed rest, medication and therapy, not only was I upright, I was pain free and I was back in the pool swimming (great therapy!). My body is amazing; it’s ability to heal, rejuvenate, recover, and re-set itself amazes me and for this I am truly grateful. Taking care of our bodies is one of the ways we remain connected to ourselves and our lives.
So I've stopped giving myself such a hard time for only ever reaching 152cm, I’ve stopped giving myself a hard time for those few laugh lines around my eyes, I’ve stopped giving myself a hard time for my dry skin that really could do with a vat of moisturiser; in fact I have now started to say to myself each day just how fabulous my body is, and you know what, I might just listen and become even more fabulous!
What do you love about your body? What do you give thanks for that your body allows you to enjoy? I love that mine works and I’m walking again!
